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Philippines contestant Catriona Gray named Miss Universe
Philippines contestant Catriona Gray named Miss Universe
The Philippines’ Catriona Gray was named Miss Universe 2018 in a competition concluding Dec. 15 in Bangkok, besting contestants from 93 other countries and delighting her home country. Click through for the story in photos...
The 24-year-old Gray wore a sparkling red dress she said is inspired by a volcano in the Philippines as she was handed the crown to the delight of a roaring crowd that generally favored Southeast Asian contestants.
She said she wore red because “when I was 13 my mom said she had a dream that I would win Miss Universe in a red dress.” She said her mom cried when they saw each other after she won the competition.
Gray edged out first runner-up Tamaryn Green of South Africa and third-place Sthefany Gutierrez of Venezuela. She succeeds Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa.
Tara Madelein De Vries (L), the Miss Turkey runner-up, has returned from Bangkok without any trophy.
“It is the end of a beautiful journey. It was a fun night. The winner was obvious from the beginning. Still, my experience here was great and I’ve learned a lot,” De Vries said on her Instagram account.
This year’s Miss Universe competition included the first-ever transgender contestant, Miss Spain Angela Ponce. She said in a video presentation that it was not important for her to win but was more important for her “to be here.”
One of the few controversies of this year’s contest involved Miss United States Sarah Rose Summers seeming to mock contestants from Cambodia and Vietnam over their English language skills. Summers apologized.
The finale was again hosted by Steve Harvey who infamously announced the wrong winner in the 2015 contest. Harvey joked briefly about the incident in exchanges with contestants and said “You all can’t let that go” and “I’m still here.”
The theme of the 67th Miss Universe pageant was “Empowered Women” and was judged by seven women including former pageant winners, businesswomen, and a fashion designer.
The contestants spent nearly a month in Thailand to compete in preliminary rounds wearing elaborate national costumes, visit famous tourist sites and even met the country’s prime minister.
Here are more photos from the finale...
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